Zei University
by Akirys
Summary: In the modern-day Avatar age, four college kids sit down to watch and riff on an old classic from many decades ago. The name of this piece of history? The Adventures of Nuktuk: Hero of the South!


"Hey, everyone, I got the stuff!"

"Careful with that!" Mitzy scolded. "Those are _ancient."_

"Yeah, I got it. Just set up the projector."

Mitzy huffed and went about checking the rusty brown equipment. It really was ancient, and a miracle that it worked at all. It was ready to go; all they needed to play the movers were the film rolls themselves, which Ento set (not carefully enough!) on the polished table.

"I can't believe Professor Jiang let this out of his sight," he said.

"It was Kan," said Mitzy. "The professor loves airbenders. Kan totally convinced him to let us take a look at this for extra credit."

"Where is he, anyway?"

"At lunch, probably. He and Sumiko are on their way up."

While they waited for their friends, Mitzy examined the rolls of film. She didn't know much about the supposed "first episodic motion picture program!" they contained, but she knew she'd get extra credit if her analysis was good enough, and that was all she needed. Sumiko was the one who was excited about the film's subject. She was a proud Southerner and wore a pin with her tribe's symbol on it at all times.

She looked over only to see Ento fiddling with the movie projector. "Hey, stop! You're seriously gonna break it!"

"I'm not!" He opened his hand wide to show it was coated with grit. "I'm bending the rust off." He let the metal dust sprinkle onto the table and went to work suctioning the rest of the rust away until it looked like new.

Mitzy only rolled her eyes. Ento was an okay earthbender, but he was much better with metalbending. He did party tricks and detail work like this all the time. Mitzy couldn't bend, and could hardly care less about the subject—and hey, everyone was equal in film school!

"I'm here."

Kan appeared in the doorway. He was a tall, thin guy with straight black hair that went down to his shoulders. He was part of the Progressive Air Nation, so despite his prociency with airbending, he had no tattoos. And he was no monk, judging by the way Mitzy had seen him inhale komodo chicken at the barbecue last summer.

"Where's Sumiko?" Ento asked impatiently, brushing his hands over the table.

"Right here."

"Here!" Sumiko shrieked, stumbling into view behind Kan. "We're here! Let's start!" She navigated past him and plopped down into a seat beside Mitzy.

"Is everything set up?" she asked as Kan took a seat by Ento.

"Pretty much," Mitzy responded. "Hey, Kan, there's a whiteboard to your left—yeah, roll that down and we'll have a screen for the projector. What's this even called again, anyway?"

" _The Adventures of_ _Nuktuk, Hero of the South,"_ Sumiko declared.

"It was super popular propaganda filmed in Republic City like eighty years ago," added Ento.

"Not just propaganda," said Sumiko. "Technologically, it was way ahead of its time. It basically kick-started movies like we know them today."

"I found some old journals in the library, too," Kan said, placing a fabric bag on the table. "There's a lot going on behind the scenes. Honestly, it's a great choice for extra credit."

"Then turn it on!" Mitzy said.

Sumiko couldn't resist giving a speech. She stood up and laid her hand grandly on the machine. "Here, friends, lies the last remains of the greatest, and only, moving picture of its time. Invented by the master of business, Varrick, whose name is only known to film-school history _nerds,_ this film, which, believe it or not, was taken entirely seriously by its actor and crew at the time, remains in today's terms a masterpiece of comically bad special effects—"

"All right, already!" Ento interrupted.

In a few minutes, the film was rolling. The four of them held their breath as _Nuktuk, Hero of the South_ flickered to life.

Barely a minute in, Sumiko squealed. "Look at that! It's old Southern Water tribe! They're talking about Unalaq!"

"Shh!"

"No, wait," said Mitzy, already scratching her pen on paper. "Who's that?"

"He's the guy from the Korra era, you know, the Dark Avatar."

"Holy crap, _that_ guy was mentioned in this movie?"

"He's the main villain!"

Nuktuk marched onscreen. Mitzy heard Kan giggle. He was muscular enough for the "Hero of the South," she guessed, but he had kind of a babyish face that didn't really fit the role. And his acting was _not great._ And—

"Aww, cute! A fire ferret!" said Sumiko.

"...It talks?"

Kan and Ento were already leafing through the pile of journals. "Yeah, that was the actor's pet," said Ento. "That was one of their most costly effects, I guess, but they wanted to keep the pool of actors small."

"And the other animal—" Kan said as a polar-bear dog appeared onscreen. "Oh, wow. Oh, spirits, wow."

"What?" Mitzy demanded.

"That polar-bear dog belonged to Korra. It was _the_ Avatar's spirit animal!"

"Are you kidding?" Sumiko yelped. "That's incredible!"

"How'd they get the Avatar to lend them their dog!" Ento yelled. They were already losing focus with the movie.

"It says—he—the actor was some guy from a probending team! The one that performed with Avatar Korra for like, a whole _season!"_

"Korra was on a probending team?!" Ento said at the same time as Sumiko yelled, "This is so _cool!_ This movie IS history!"

"Pause the movie!" demanded Mitzy.

"I can't! It's on a stupid old-timey projector!"

Finally, they settled down, but the next mover was starting (all of them except the finale were short for budget reasons). The only sound besides the warbling film reel was Mitzy furiously writing notes, plus the occasional giggle or remark at a hokey line.

"Who's this?" Ento said when Ginger was introduced.

"Her name's Ginger," said Kan.

"I like her hair." Ento's hair was naturally so bright-red and curly that it almost made Mitzy personally embarrassed. Ginger's matching color was clear even through the brownish tint of the film.

"Some of these journals were from her point of view," said Kan, flipping more pages. "I guess she was a writer offscreen. She kept complaining about how Nuktuk's actor had a crush on her in real life, and _then_ complaining that he never noticed her anymore."

"What happened?" Mitzy asked, amused.

"Saving the world happened, I bet. Bolin was actually _there with Korra_ during the opening of the Portals."

"No _way."_

"I'm serious," Kan said, with such a poker face that it almost seemed like he was being sarcastic.

"This guy's crazy," Ento said, watching Nuktuk bumble around onscreen, fighting some guy in a badly-made spirit costume. "What'd he get into theater for if he was doing so much else at the same time?"

"Maybe he just really liked movers," said Sumiko. "Ha—look at that effect!"

Nuktuk was supposed to be using a tidal wave to wash the spirit baddie away. He thrust his hands out, and water poured poured down...from the _top_ of the screen. As soon as it hit the spirit guy, he wilted dramatically and crawled offscreen.

"That's not how waterbending works," said Sumiko.

"Look at his posture. That's earthbending," said Ento. "Why'd they cast an earthbender for a Southern Water Tribe part?" He'd passed his pile of journals off to Kan. He preferred riffing in blissful ignorance to doing any actual research.

"I mean, it _is_ a propaganda film," Sumiko admitted. "Nuktuk, I mean, the actor, probably got the role to support the Avatar during Unalaq's War."

"Hey, shut up!" said Mitzy. "Juji's dying."

The film students settled into respectful silence as Juji the talking snow raccoon with laser vision passed on into the spirits' hands.

Ento snuck a glance at Mitzy. "Hey, are you actually getting emotional over this?"

"N-no," said Mitzy, and continued scribbling wildly over her notepad.

"Someone should find Avatar Niko," said Ento, "make her contact Avatar Korra, and ask her what the _hell_ is up with this movie."

"I'll get right on that," said Kan. "Where's Avatar Niko? Off in the Crescent Island Sanctuary again? Oh, right."

"Can we _not_ get into avatar politics right now, Kan?" Sumiko asked, rolling her eyes. "We get it, you're a Progressive."

"All I'm saying is, it's really only tradition and public pressure that make the Avatar _have_ to be spiritually certified," said Kan.

" _Guys,"_ Mitzy said.

There was only half an hour of footage left. Sumiko was glued to the screen during the Unalaq confrontation. Mitzy tried not to be overly emotional at Juji's triumphant resurrection. Ento got fed up with the cheese and started earthbending his Meteor Magic bracelet as he did when he got bored. Kan continued flipping through the journals.

"Oh, this is interesting," he said. "Apparently, during the premiere of the finale, there was a real-life altercation between Bolin and some northern water tribe supporters. He actually fought them onstage while Nuktuk was airing...with earthbending, though."

"That guy had some life," marveled Sumiko. "Does it say where he ended up?"

"He grew up, you know, got married. Kept on acting, being in public. He was friends with the Avatar til the end of her life. Then he taught the next Avatar lavabending."

" _Wow."_

With a triumphant display of water and firebending effects, Nuktuk ended. Its last image was of Nuktuk himself, heroically framed on a mountaintop, with Ginger clinging to his side and his animal companions crowded around him.

Mitzy almost applauded, then stopped herself just in time.

"Well, that was something!" Sumiko said brightly, clearing up the film reels and the projector. "Gotta admit, I'm a bit disappointed with the plot. The structure was pretty weak and unfocused."

"All I care is that Mitzy took enough notes for me to get the extra credit," Ento said.

"Ha! As if I'd share them with you. Write your own paper."

"That's not a Nuktuk way to respond," said Ento. "I'm sure Nuktuk thinks you should support your friends."

"What a guy," Kan said, and gave the film reels an ironic salute. "Rest in peace, Nuktuk."

~*Q*~

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! This is not the way I thought my first ATLA fanfic would turn out, but it was fun to write!**

 **Leave a review to let me know if you liked it, or if you have any suggestions for more adventures of the Zei kids.**

 **~*Akirys*~**


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